Spin behind Jessica Lynch story?

World Net Daily ^ | 5/6/03 | Diana Lynne

[patriciaruth]

She is an American soldier. She suffered severe injuries during an ambush and possibly afterwards in captivity.

There is no need to spin this pro or con women in the military. She deserves, as all our soldiers deserve, our gratitude for serving, and she does not deserve to be used by anyone (pro or con) with an axe to grind or copy space to fill.

[SteveH]

See here for some early suspicions about the stories.

If the report that several male soldiers died trying to protect her and the other women in the group, then the women may have "survivor's syndrome".

At what point does chivalry interfere with the mission? Some military think tanks would have done a lot of studies on this, yes? Or would such studies have been ruled out as sexist from the get-go and never performed? If studies were performed, one wonders, did they extend to dealing with new variations of post trauma stress that gender-integrated armed forces might incur?

[JustPiper]

She is an American soldier. She suffered severe injuries during an ambush and possibly afterwards in captivity.

And selective amnesia is very likely for not being able to cope with the trauma she endured. The memories could kill her.

She was left for dead. I think her injuries and things done to her are much worse than reported at all! I have feared from the beginning her 'back spinal injury' may have left her paralised and we should not diminish what she has gone through.

[thedugal]

This woman is echoing what I said in the first days of the incident..

Simply by surviving, Jessica done good. She deserves recognition for that fact. BUT, we now know she was not shot or stabbed. I can't imagine that anyone would report she had been both shot and stabbed unless that person had an agenda. This leads one to strongly question the claims that she kept killing Iraqis until she ran out of ammo.

Another point, even when the report came out that she had fought to the last bullet, I was quite disturbed. There are 3 possibilities why she was the lone survivor. 1, a combo of skill and luck (probably more luck since she was a supply clerk) 2, the Iraqis saw blonde hair and decided they were taking her alive for the obvious reasons 3, the men with her died protecting her, forgeting their training when their biological instincts kicked in to protect the young woman.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/885012/posts?page=77#77

[postal_andy]

So the WorldNetDaily and the Center for Military Readiness aren't spinning the story either?
I agree it was irresponsible of the Pentagon sources to feed the WP an unsubtantiated story of heroics, which if it turned out to be untrue would inevitably cause people to disrespect Pfc Lynch through no fault of her own.
Just a point about the doctors stories; where the Toronto Star refers to "intelligence agents" it's clear from the article that they are referring to the central command in Baghdad, not the local Fedayeen.
I think this brave young woman should be allowed to recover in peace without being used as an example to support any political position.

[KeyWest]

The author is accusing others of what they are doing, printing what happened without knowing what happened and drawing conclusions to fit their agenda. Much of what is supposedly attributed to her was from others, yet she is being pilloried as a liar. That is shameful.

I do not want women in combat, but the article is offensive.

[honeygrl]

It may be a while before anyone knows the real story because Foxnews announced yesterday that she has Amnesia

[Husker24]

Lynch suffered a head wound, spinal injury and fractures to her right arm, both legs and her right foot and ankle.

From falling from a vehicle?, was she standing on one of those giant mining dump trucks or what.

[Catspaw]

I wish the press would just leave her alone.

She's gone through a hideous experience, has had multiple injuries and surgeries from which she's still recovering, and people want to make her into a Poster Child for their own agendas.

I'm just happy she's safe and on the long road to recovery.

[Sacajaweau]

The injuries sounds like their vehicle may have flipped and she got pinned. It may be the reason she was not shot.

[Cameron1]

Just serving in the war was dramatic. Being captured by enemy forces is dramatic. Being held in a rat hole cell in a foreign land is dramatic. Being injured is dramatic. Being rescued by special forces is most dramatic and joyous. Where are these people coming from?
Too much hype? If you want hype, watch the loser democrats running for president!!

[Copernicus]

From falling from a vehicle?, was she standing

If the vehicle was moving when she panicked and jumped her efforts could have killed her.

Yes, you may number me among the skeptics of WOMEN IN COMBAT.

At this point the Pentagon has a pretty good idea of what happened and the fact they refuse to discuss it does not bode well for the gender neutral military concept.

Best regards,

[lonestar]

Next, they're going to be questioning what Audie Murphy did in WW2 and will be taking his Medal of Honor away.

[Hatteras]

"...yet she is being pilloried as a liar."

There in lies the problem with the forces of the media, Hollywood and public opinion. I don't ever recall hearing a word from PFC Lynch on this matter. The media and Hollywood seem to be writing the script and public opinion is running with it.

Maybe PFC Lynch is feigning amnesia because she's too embarrassed to admit she fell out of the truck when it hit a bump, they had to stop the convoy to pick her up and were subsequently attacked as they fell behind?

Hey, who's to say? The only people that know what happened are not talking or can't talk anymore. If you have a quote from the poor girl, please link us to it.

[SuziQ]

Gizzy and other doctors said most of the Saddam's Fedayeen fighters, and the entire Baath Party leadership had come to the hospital earlier in the day, changed into civilian clothes and fled

Did this guy just say criticize the Americans for "blasting through the doors like a Hollywood movie" because the Iraqis had laft the hospital TWO DAYS earlier? I guess he's making a distinction between Iraqi soldiers and Baath party leadership and Fedayeen Sadaam. I personally see no difference. If they were there earlier in the day, then American intelligence WAS right, and the rescue was necessary.

I didn't believe all the overblown stuff in the original article anyway. From whom would they have gotten that information? I suspect, as Elaine Donnelly said, it was put out by someone trying to solidify womens' place in combat roles. As the truth comes out, I believe that fervor will be gone. Thank God that Bush is President right now. If it had been a Democrat, they'd have already pushed through the changes making it policy, because Lynch supposedly fought 'as fierce as any man'.

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT criticizing Pvt. Lynch. She has become a pawn in this fight. She and her family, as far as I can tell, have acted with complete honor in this. It is the feminists behind the scenes with whom I have MY beef!

[HAL9000]

"BUT, we now know she was not shot or stabbed."

No, we don't know that.

A subsequent medical briefing (after the April 4th article you quoted) said the open fractures in her arm and leg may have been caused by gunshots.

[oyez]

BFL

[CholeraJoe]

Maybe the author of this piece should ask this woman if there's an "armored ceiling" in the military. (Yes those are 3 stars on her epaulets)

Lt General Leslie F. Kenne,
AF Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration.

[FITZ]

She and her family, as far as I can tell, have acted with complete honor in this. It is the feminists behind the scenes with whom I have MY beef!

She and her family act like they'd like to be left alone --- the feminists ought to find someone else. Maybe Hillary can fight in the next war and be a ferocious hero.